Building construction



R7 SJMACLEAN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed July 51, 19 22 Patented Apr. 3,i923.

ROBERT s. MAGLEA'N,

or CHICAGO, mariners.

\ BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed July 31, 1922. Serial No. 578,564.

To all coll-om it may concern 1 Be it known that I, honnn'r S.lllaonnAn, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Chicago, inthe county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Building Construction, of which the following isa full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference be ing had tothe accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in building construction, and isparticularly concerned with a novehtype of covering for the exposedsurfaces ofa buildinm'. \Vhile thecovering forming a part of myinvention is particularly designed for the roofs of buildings, it may beused equally well for covering the sides or other exposed surfaces of a.building.

The objects of my invention are:

First, toprovide a covering for a surface of a building, which can beeasily and quickly applied;

Second, to provide a covering of flexible rooting material, soconstructed that all portions of the roof are covered by at least twothicknesses of the roofing material;

Third, to provide a covering for 'a build-.

ing formed of flexible rooting material, which. is so constructed andscented to the building as to permit the portions,tl1creof .freely toexpand and contract, without appreciable buckling or other undesi abledistortions of the covering. Fourth, to provide a covering for abuilding comprising a plurality of rows of shingles arranged inoverlapping relation, and means for holding down the outer ends of theshinglesto prevent them froui being blown up by the wind, or otherwisedisplaced f-roln their proper positions; and

Finally, to provide av coveringlof such construction as to give thelight and'shadow effect of a tile roofing, without the necessity ofusing an excessive amount of tnc covcrii g material.

Other objects will appear as this description progresses, referencebeinghad to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan Viewof a portion of a roof constructed in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is a transverse section therethrough on line 22 of .Figure 1,and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan View on an enlarged scale.

Throughout the several views, similar ref-. erence characters will beused for referring to similar parts.

One of the objections to the use of prepared roofing, formed of sheetsof fibrous material impregnated. with asphalt, or othernioisture-repellant material, is that such roofs are flat and monotonousin appearance. Various attempts have been made to overcome thisobjectionhy cutting the roofing material up into strips, shingles andother forms, so arranged as to give a light and, shadow effect, andthus, tocsome extent, simulating the appearance of tile roofing, butmost of the proposed arrangements have been objectionable for one causeor another.

In some of these previous constructions, consider ile difficulty hasbeen experienced through the curling of the strips or shingles. Anotherobjection has been due to the fact that the parts of the roof are notfree to expand and contract with changes in temperature. In theseconstructions, under increased temperature the roofing has a tendvencyto? buckle at various places, thus not only producing an unsightlyappearance, but permitting rain to enter. in some of these';constructions. at certain points only one thickness of thereoiingprotects the interior of the building fr im the weather. Mypresent invc 'ution is designed to ove"- come all of the aboveobjectionable features of prior construction, and at the same timepossesses zulvantagcous features not found in the prior constructions.

Referring to the drawings, wherein I have illustrated one embodiment ofmy invention, 1 have shown a portion of a roof comprising the roofboards 5, which act as a supporting surface for aplurality of strips 6of flexible roofing material, ar'anged side by side, and in overlappingrelation, the

edges ,of the strips being substantially parallel with each other. Eachof these strips has formed therein. adjacent its free edge, a pluralityof longitudinally spaced pairs of outwardly converging slots 7. Aplurality of shingles Bis transversely arranged on,

- as is clearly I entrance to the building through each strip 6 inlongitudinally spaced relation, and each of Ithese shingles is secured.to its strip by having its outer cm'ners 3 inserted. through a pair oithe slots 7, as sl'iown in Figures 1 and 2.

in constructing a building embodying my invention, the loweststrip 6 0iroofing Inaterial'is first applied to the surface to be covered; theshingles 8 are then placed upon the strip and secured thereto by havingtheir outer cori'iers inserted in the slots 7; another strip of materialis applied to the first strip in overlapping relation, and nails orother securing devices 9 are driven through the superimposed strip andthe shingle and strip beneath the superimposed strip. Preferably, Ilocate these nails or securing devices, as shown in Figure 1, justinside of the slots 7;, so that when the next row'oi shingles isapplied, the shingles will cover the securing devices. These operationsare continued until the entire surface is covered.

i prefer to arrange the strips and rows of shingles in such relation toeach preceding strip and row of shingles that only one row of fasteningdevices 9 will pass through each shingle and strip. These fasteningdevices being, arrangedlongitudinally of the strips transversely of theshingles, will perinit the strips freely to expand, and contract intransverse direction,and the shinglesto expand and contractvlongitudinally without buckling. The slots 7 are of such length that thecorners of the shingles lit loosely therein, shown in Figure 2, so as topern'iit movementof the shinglesfthrough expansion and contraction andany buckling of the outer shingles, to. changes in The slots not onlyperform thus prevent ends of the temperature. the function just red tobut also serve to determine the no of the exposed portion of theshingles, apparent from an inspection. of

l, in which the e l-posed portions of shingles give an effect ofoctagonal. in is, of course, eppare-ni. "that need not be straight, and.suitably changing the different ogtical effects prefer m arrange theirouter edges 8 are spaced from the edges 6? of the corresponding strips6, thereby leaving a marginal portion of each strip exposed, which tendsto exaggerate the thickness or the adjacent end or the shingle, and thusproduces the light and shadow out is so much desired in. roofs formedor" prepared roofing material, From an inspection of the drawing it willbe clear that at all points the surface of the 7 that by of the slots,can he produced. 1.

building is covered by at least two thiclof nesses of thecoveringmateriah and that it is praceic-ally impossible for rain to gain thecover pairs of outwardly the shingles so that transversely of each oisaid ing material on account of the great distance which it would haveto travel. It will also be apparent that with my construction,exceptionally good drainage is provided for any rain which. may workupwardly slight distances beneath the strips or the shingles, and thatthere is, danger of an accumulation of either water, frost, or icebeneath portions of the roof.

By making the strips of onecolor, and the shingles of another orothercolors, the light and shadow efl'ect can be considerably increased,

l Vhile l have described my invention in connection with the roof of abuilding, it'is to be clearly understood thatmy invention isnot limitedto this use, but can be used for covering the sides, or anyother exposedsurface of a building or other structure.

It is also-to be understoodthat my invention is not limited to thedetails of construction described, but is capable of other adaptationsand modifications Within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim is new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of thoUnited States is:

l. The combination with a. supporting surface of a' lglurality of stripsof flexible roofing material arranged on said surface in overlappingrelation, thefree edges :of said strips being; substantially parallel,said strips being provided at spaced intervals and adjacent their freeedges with a plurality of raiity of rectangular shingles extendingtransversely of each of said stripsin spaced relation, each ofv saidshingles having? its converging slots, a plu-' therefore vei little'outer corners loosely inserted in one or said pairs of slots, and a.nail driven through each of said strips and thcfnext adjacent strip, itssuperimposed shihgleand's'aid supporti'ng surface, adjacent each or saidslots,'the hQfidg'Qf said nail being concealed by the shingle having iscorner secured in said last named slot 2. The cembinetion with asupgiorting surface of a plurality ofstr'ips of flexible roofingmaterial 1 arranged on'said surface in overlap iing relation, the freeedges of said strips being substantially parallel, said-strips beingprovidedat spaced intervals and adjacenctheir free edges with aplurality of pairs of outwardly converging slots, a plurality ofrectangular shingles. extending strips in spaced relation, each of saidshingles having its outer corners loosely inserted in one of pairs ofslots and means for securing said strips and shingles to said surface.

overlapping relation the free edges of said strip-s substantiallyparallel, said 8. Thevcombination With a supporting sur strips beingprovided at spaced intervals with a plurality of airs of outwardlyconverging slots, a p urality of rectangular shingles extendingtransversely of each of said'strips, each of said shingles having itsouter corners'loosely inserted'in one of said pairs of slots, and meansfor securing said strips and shingles to said surface.

4. The combination with a supporting surface, of a plurality of stripsarranged thereon in overlapping relation, the free edgesof said stripsbeing substantially parallel, a plurality of shingles extendingtransversely of each of said strips in spaced relation. the outer end ofeach of said shingles terminating adjacent the free edge of the strip onwhich it is superimposed, and means for securing the outer end its stripcomprising means 'whic-hlwill permit the outer end of saidshingle freelyto expand or contract-in any direction without bfifipming detached fromsaid strip;

5. face, of a plurality of strips arranged thereon in the overlappingrelation, the free edges of said strips being substantially parallel, aplurality of shingles extending transversely of each of said strips, andmeans for securing the outer end of each shingle to its strip comprisingmeans which -will permit the outer end of said shingle freely to expandor contract in any direc tion Without becoming detached from said strip.

-6, The combination with a supporting surface, of a plurality of stripsarranged thereon in overlapping relation. the free edges of securingsaid said strips being substantially parallel, a plurality of shinglesextending transversely of each of said strips, means on said strips forengaging cure the latter to the strips, and means for strips to saidsupporting surface.

of each shingle to 4 e combination with a supporting-sum portions ofsaid shingles to se- I 7. The combination with a supporting sur-- face,of a pluralityof strips of roofing. arranged thereon in overlappingrelatien,-a plurality of shingles extending transversely of each of saidstrips, and means for, securing the outer ends of each of said shinlesto its strip which determines the visible outline of a said singles.

8 The combination-of a strip of roofing material having adjacent onelongitudinal edge a plurality of pairs of spaced outwardly convergingslots, and a pluralit of shingles superimposed on said strip,eac of saidshingles having the corners at one end thereof loosely slots. v

9. The combination of a. strip of roofingmaterial having adjacent onelongitudina l edge a plurality of pairs of spaced Outinserted in a pairof said Wardly converging slots, and. a. plurality- 12. An article ofmanufacturecomprising a strip of flexible roofing having a jacent oneedge thereof longitudinally spaced pairs of slots. I

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 27 da of Jul 1922,

- ROB RT S. ACLEAN."

Witnesses: v

EMILE J. Boononors, DAGMAR PrzrnasoN.

portion of the outer end of l

